Tag Archives: AirPrint for iPad

AirPrint is an iOS feature that lets you print wirelessly from your iPad or iPhone. It’s a great feature that has got better each year – because the range of wireless printers that support it has grown substantially.

By now there are thousands of printers that support AirPrint, including printers from 24 leading manufacturers. That number has grown from 15 in just the last year – and includes major brands like HP, Epson, Lexmark, Canon, Brother, Dell and lots more.

It’s very easy to find printers that support AirPrint. Here are some of the best ways:

— Check this Apple support page that lists all current AirPrint printers from all the different vendors.

— Look for confirmation of AirPrint support when buying in an online store, or just ask a salesperson in a retail outlet.

— Visit Apple’s online store and their AirPrint Printers section.The wireless printers there start at right around $100.

AirPrint, the ability to print wirelessly from the iPad and iOS devices, is one of the great features of using iOS devices. Some of the most commonly asked questions about AirPrint are all about whether it will work with a specific printer.

The good news is that Apple provides good, clear information on exactly which printers are supported by AirPrint. The even better news is that the list has grown tremendously over the last 6-12 months and now includes well over 500 printers from 15 different manufacturers. Here are the 15 leading printer manufacturers who have printers on the AirPrint supported list:

Today there’s news that HP had added support for the iOS AirPrint feature to eight of their Laserjet models. AirPrint is the feature added in the iOS 4.2 update that lets users print to wireless printers directly from the iPad and other iOS devices running iOS 4.2 or greater.

AirPrint should be a great feature, and it would be if it had been released as Apple originally touted it – offering near universal support for printing, including the ability to print to any shared printer on a local WiFi network. But by the time iOS 4.2 was released AirPrint had been badly hobbled. Sadly, even seven months after the 4.2 release, AirPrint is still a lame shell of what it was pitched as.

After seven months of AirPrint being an active feature, here’s a quick scoreboard check on it:

It’s been nearly four months since iOS 4.2 for the iPad was released, with AirPrint as one of the headline new features included in it. Initially, AirPrint was touted by Apple as bringing ‘universal’ wireless printing to the iPad and iOS.

By the time the 4.2 update was released that had been scaled back enormously – it offered wireless printing only to AirPrint-enabled printers and the list of those was pathetically short. Back in November the list contained only seven printers, all from only one manufacturer, HP.

Today I had a quick glance at Apple’s list of Airprint-enabled printers again – hoping and expecting that it would have expanded quite a bit. Sadly, it hasn’t. There are now only 17 printers on the list – still all from HP. I realize it is probably legal and licensing reasons that are crippling this list right now, not technology-related ones, but even so it strikes me as very lame on Apple’s part that they promised the world on this feature and they’ve not even come close to delivering on the promise.

HP has updated six more of their printers to support AirPrint. AirPrint is meant to be one of the big new feature of the latest iOS 4.2 software update for the iPad. It was originally advertised as offering universal printing from iOS devices, to wireless and shared printers. On release though, it is very disappointing and – until today – supported only a dozen HP printers (none from any other manufacturers) and no shared printers at all.

These models range from $129 upwards on Amazon. Even with these added, this is still less than 20 printers supported by AirPrint, and all from one manufacturer – a far stretch from universal. In the meantime, if you’re on a Mac there is a very nice little app that will allow you to use just about any shared printer with AirPrint, just as Apple originally pitched the new feature. See my article here for how to use this app to make AirPrint work with shared printers: http://ipadinsight.com/ipad-tips-tricks/how-to-make-airprint-work-with-just-about-any-printer/